The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

Poppy Seed Onion Deli Rye

Benito's picture
Benito

Poppy Seed Onion Deli Rye

Inspired by a recent post by Eric Hanner’s daughter, I decided to have another go at the deli rye recipe that Eric has shared with us.  As you may know he passed away before his time and although I didn’t know him, I know many of you did here on TFL.  Based on my previous bakes of this recipe, I’ve made small changes which are reflected in the spreadsheet and instructions.  If you’re worried that the onion flavour will be too much, you can just used filtered water instead of the water used to rehydrated the onions.

Build levain overnight 74°F for 8 - 10 hours

Boil filtered water about 250 g and use to rehydrate the onions overnight. When ready to start the dough in the morning, strain the onions and use the water to make the dough. If you’re worried there might be too much onion flavour, use regular filtered water than wasn’t used to hydrate the onions.

Mix bread flour, VWG, onion water (minus holdout water), yeast and sugar using a mixer. Once incorporated let rest for 15 mins. This is a stiff dough. Then mix on low speed to build gluten. If the dough seems just too stiff for your mixer to develop, add some of the levain since it is 100% hydration.

Once gluten well developed add levain mixing again until well incorporated and gluten well developed, the dough will be a bit loose at this point. Then add the salt and holdout water (if needed) gradually and again mix until well developed. The salt will tighten up the dough. Add the rehydrated onion and mix until well combined.

Transfer the dough to a well oiled bowl and continue bulk fermentation 82ºF for about 1-2 hour or until the dough has at least doubled.
Once bulk is complete and the dough has at least doubled pre-heat the oven to 500ºF with the dutch oven inside.
Dust the surface of the dough and the countertop with flour and release the dough onto the countertop. Degas the dough by patting it down with the heel of your hand. Shape into a batard.
Transfer the batard to your final proofing device. I used a cookie tray with bottles of wine on either side, then my couche and then a sheet of parchment paper. I placed the dough seem side down onto the parchment supporting the sides of the dough. I brushed the surface with water and put poppyseeds on the outside of the dough.

When oven pre-heated to 500ºF, brush the dough with the cornstarch glaze then score with the bread knife and load into the dutch oven to bake with steam for 15 mins at 450ºF then remove the lid and drop temperature to 420ºF for 20 mins and then drop temperature again to 350ºF and bake for another 10 mins. Make sure the loaf is fully baked, remove it from the oven and tap on the bottom to ensure that it sounds hollow. If hollow then it is done. Place on a cooling rack and brush once again with the cornstarch glaze.

Cornstarch Glaze - (makes more than needed)
Bring 125 g water to a boil in a small sauce pan.
In a 1 cup measuring cup, whisk together ⅛ cup (31 g) water and ¾-1 tbsp cornstarch. Slowly add the dissolved cornstarch mixture into the boiling water, whisking constantly until the glaze has thickened slightly. Take it off the stove and set aside until needed. It will be quite thick by the time it is needed.

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Comments

HeiHei29er's picture
HeiHei29er

Looks great Benny.  Great color to the crust and looks like you have a nice bloom.  The profile on the loaf is perfect for deli sandwiches!

No such thing as too much onion… 😉

Benito's picture
Benito

Thank you Troy, you’re right I agree about no such thing as too much onion, but certain people I live with might disagree 😝

 

Isand66's picture
Isand66

Love the look of your crust.  I’m sure the inside will look perfect as well.

Now you need some pastrami and corned beef to make a sandwich 🥪!

Benito's picture
Benito

Yes when I was slicing this loaf I was thinking my meal planning sucked.  I had already had a Greek dinner salad planned and really should have had sandwiches planned to take advantage of this bread.

Benito's picture
Benito

So pleased with this bake. The crumb was nicely open and so soft. The crust was thin and crisp. The onion flavour was excellent and reminded me of the onion buns I used to love eating as a child. I’ll be baking this again in the future.

Benito's picture
Benito

Here’s a video I put together showing how extensively I degassed prior to shaping.

trailrunner's picture
trailrunner

I don’t see amounts for the onions and seeds, I can’t eat poppy seeds but the onions sound delicious! Gorgeous crust and crumb

Benito's picture
Benito

Thank you Caroline.  I didn’t add the onion to the spreadsheet where indicated, but the 15 g is written in the bottom right corner of the spreadsheet.  

The bake went well and I’ll definitely bake it again.

Benny

JonJ's picture
JonJ

Lovely crumb and can only imagine the taste. Could have sworn that the original 'Ben and Eric' rye was more than 25% rye though?

Enjoying your shaping videos too, always interesting to see how you do things in real life. That dough looked pretty gassy already when it was shaped!

Jon

Benito's picture
Benito

Thank you Jon, I reduced the amount of rye to an even 25%.  As I suspected with the onion the rye isn’t as obvious in the flavour and I wanted to try to get the dough a bit stronger.  The dough was really gassy at the time of shaping, using an aliquot jar I waited until the dough had truly risen 100%.  Then in shaping I really degassed the dough.

Benny